The House Ethics Committee reportedly canceled its Friday meeting as pressure surges for the committee to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz after he was announced as President-elect Donald Trump‘s pick for attorney general.
The committee has been investigating the Florida Republican over allegations of sex trafficking and sex with a minor, accusations he has denied. With Gaetz’s resignation from the House earlier this week, the committee’s jurisdiction over investigating Gaetz has gone away, but some are demanding the report be released.
Multiple reports on Thursday evening said that the planned Friday meeting had been canceled for unspecified reasons. The committee, which tends to operate quietly while it investigates members, could have used the meeting to discuss the next steps with the Gaetz report.
Several senators have expressed their desire to see the yet-to-be-released report about the former congressman since he will face a confirmation hearing before the upper chamber of Congress.
“The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Thursday. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people.”
Incoming Senate Republican Leader John Thune (R-SD) was vague on how the GOP, which will be in the Senate majority in January, would handle the matter.
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“I don’t know until we start the process with him and all the other potential nominees,” Thune told reporters Thursday. “None of this stuff is formal yet. But when it is, we expect our committees to do their jobs and provide the advice and consent that is required under the Constitution.”
Trump has floated recess appointments for some Cabinet nominees, which would not require a vote from the Senate but require the chamber to be in recess for at least 10 days. Congress can do pro-forma sessions to prevent recess appointments.
